A while back my nine year old daughter asked me if she could have a desk in her room. Being that we homeschool and she is now at the point of working more independently, I said, "absolutely!" I knew the trick was going to be, finding a desk that was small enough for her room.
When I came across this desk on craigslist I knew it was the perfect size! My darling husband set out to pick it up for me. Based on the color of the desk I knew I would be refinishing it. Based on the Craiglist add it was supposed to be wood. Well it was laminate. Oh well because it truly is the PERFECT size!
Now I had a new adventure ahead of me... painting laminate! Here is what I learned... even though the primer (Zinsser water based) said no need to sand... I sanded! What I would have done differently... paint a second or thicker coat of the primer before beginning to paint!
The chair is solid wood but did have some scratches. I sanded it a bit, painted it with primer and transformed it into pink perfection!
The desk was missing a drawer handle, but that was fine by me, since I was going to replace them anyway. Here is what I replaced them with.
Sweet, glass flower knobs! I wanted the knobs to really be the personality of the desk. Especially since I chose to paint it a creamy white (Winter White by Olympic). Having the three different colors really adds personality, don't you think? Not so matchy, matchy.
Next to my daughter's bed is this custom made castle piece. It was left by it's creator in a natural wood finish. I decided to give it a more finished look and painted it the color I used on the chair.
I now have a very overjoyed nine year old with a darling little desk and perfectly pink chair!
On to the next project... a chair cushion for her chair! The fabric I found is just adorable! Can't wait for you to see it!
I am the world's worst tooth fairy. My girls don't believe in the tooth fairy, but we still have fun with it. I am notorious to forget to take the tooth and leave the money, night after night. I tell my girls, "I am just keeping them in suspense!" Finally when I do remember, most times I leave the money and forget to take the tooth. My girls laugh at me and we are making fun memories of me as a horrible tooth fairy!
I have recently been forced asked to share what I came up with for my daughter who lost her tooth. Oh the things we do for friends (I love you friend!) I have to say this idea needs some improvements. I literally, no joke threw it together in the middle of the night a few weeks ago. I made a promise to my daughter that I would make something special for her and then the days day got away from me. So I could not have another moment go by with out keeping my promise. So in advance my disclaimer is made... this is a very ROUGH version of what you could improve upon.
All I did was cut out two pieces of felt in the shape of a heart. You could do a tooth, truck, star, circle for a baseball or any shape you desire. The basic idea behind this non pillow, tooth"pillow" is that it can either go under the child's bed pillow, hang on a door knob or hang on a bed post. Whatever the child chooses.
I even created a secret pocket for the tooth. See it there in the side?
The front pocket is for the money. Here is where this tooth pillow needs an improvement. I used a single ribbon on the front to create the pocket. It is not quite high enough to really do a good job holding the money. Either use two ribbons sewn together or make a pocket out of fabric.
Here is what I did:
To one of the hearts you need to sew on your front pocket.
Placing the two hearts back together (pocket facing out) I sewed a Zig Zag stitch around the heart (I folded the ribbon handle in half and inserted it between the two hearts)
Make sure you leave an opening for the secret pocket.
I then sewed on another ribbon just under the secret pocket this will keep the tooth from falling all the way inside the pillow.
Lastly I sewed down the two sides of the secret pocket. So it ended up creating a square pocket.
Or you could use the secret pocket for money.
You could stuff this and actually make it into a pillow.
The curtains in my dinning room were just a tad too short. Using coordinating fabric that I have in the adjoining living room. I decided to make a ruffle at the bottom. This way it added some length as well as a bit of somethin' extra to the room.
Too short!
I first cut the fabric to the size of ruffle I wanted needed. I went with 12" because that was all the fabric I had left. So that seemed the perfect size to me!
I hemmed the edges. Then I pinned the soon to be ruffle on the curtain. I placed my pins where I wanted to sew my stitch to make the ruffle. Then using the box pleat method I sewed the fabric to the bottom of the curtain. So basically you fold the fabric one way and then the opposite direction the next time. Keep repeating and you end up with a understated ruffle effect.
If you look closely you can see where the pins are.
So much better! Especially considering it did not coast me anything!
My daughter thinks they look like dresses now! See how happy they are to be beautiful? They are dancing in the wind! Don't you just love easy changes?
Now I just need to get my craft dinning room back in order!
One of the many projects I have in the works right now is my pantry. I would love to say, it is done and here is the reveal of all my hard work. However it is not finished. I have made a big step in my life and that is slowing down, being patient and taking my time with some of my projects. The pantry is an area, that as many of you know, can require a great deal of cash for all those handy dandy canisters or containers for food. I have set out determined not to spend even close to a great deal of money, so taking my time with the completion of my pantry is my only option.
Here is one of my thrifty finds for food storage. Why spend money on an empty plastic container when I could get one filled with crackers my kiddos eat?
Funny story about these crackers...
So as you see these are Winnie The Pooh crackers AKA in our family Pooh crackers. I was in a store one day and asked my daughter, "would you like to have some Pooh crackers?" The lady passing by shot a look at me and said, "gross!" I had to explain myself that they are Winnie The Pooh, not what she was thinking I was offering my child. From that point on, I make it a point to say his proper and full name.
Any how here is what these containers have been transformed into after a nice warm soapy soak in the sink.
Hint: If you are patient the label just peals right off after a good long soak. If you are impatient as I was for some most of them then this is what you will need to do
SCRUB!!!
To get rid of the sticky residue from the glue I used a product called Goo Gone.
The lids to the crackers formerly were blue so they had an encounter with spray paint.
Here are what these cracker containers have been transformed into.
For the labels you will need:
Black Burlap
Twine
A Sewing Machine
White Thread
White Paint
A Thin Paint Brush
Needle with a wide eye
Scotch Tape
How I did it:
Cut two pieces of burlap to the size you desire. Sew them together with white thread using a Zig Zag stitch. With your paint brush and paint hand paint your words. You could use a stencil, I wanted a country store feel for mine not manufactured so I choose to paint free hand. Then I cut my twine to the length where I wanted my labels to hang, leaving extra for the knots to be tied. At one end of my twine I wrapped a small piece of scotch tape. This allows the twine to thread through the needle easier. I then stuck the twine through my burlap label creating a loop that will hang around the plastic container like a necklace. Tie knots in the ends of your twine and viola you are done!
Having labels that are easy to change if the contents change is a great addition to these containers. Nothing permanent here! I love the versatility and flexibility of these signs. Another hint: You could have different words on the opposite side of the label.
So there you have it, one of my thrifty transformations for my pantry make over. Soon the whole pantry will be revealed. But for now, I hope you were inspired to be creative with what you have or what you could use for pantry organization.
Thirty minutes of quiet! Does not sound like anything wonderful, unless you picture five kids from ages nine to 4 months and one mommy all day every day. Then 3o minutes of quiet sounds like bliss!
Every day my goal is to have my kids spend 3o minutes in their rooms on their beds being quiet. Reading books, napping, resting without sleeping, reading the Bible, makes no difference how they choose to spend those minutes, just QUIET!
Oh how long those minutes seem to the little ones and oh how fast they fly for me. My thirty minutes are also spent being quiet and not cleaning anything!! My rule for myself is to treasure these minutes at rest as well. Being still before the Lord, just breathing easy and not answering a flurry of questions. Taking time to write with out chatter in the background. Thirty glorious minutes of quiet!
I know a day will soon be upon me when all is quiet around me and I will long for these boisterous days. But for now thirty minutes in a quiet home is just plain wonderful!
So may I encourage you, if you too are in the stage of continual noise in your life, to find thirty minutes in your day to just have quiet. You will be so glad you did!
As you already know... school is back in session! Homeschooling four little ones with a newborn, let me just say, EXHAUSTING! My brain has been on mental fry for the past week now! I have tried several times to sit down and put a post together, only to stare at a blank white screen. Yup, my brain has been blank. Not because I have nothing to share, because I do. I have, wait let me count... twelve, yes 12 projects in the works, but the words just have not been there. So I decided I would share with you a couple high lights of what has been going on around my Created Home. Let me just say what has not been going on, is folding laundry, because my clean towel pile is taller than my three year old! Really quite impressive, but time to purge some towels I realized. See there... see what just happened? My brain is all over the place... mental fry... also explains the 12 projects at one time. Any how here are just a couple fun things.
Okay what was your first thought upon seeing this picture? The smiles suggest it is not something torturous. Well my little one on the far right would have said otherwise at first. Notice her nervous smile? This was a blind taste test. We were doing a science experiment about the tongue and how your taste buds (or as one of my daughters calls them, taste bugs) work. This was a blast! I highly suggest it for good laughs! The key: salty, sour, sweet and bitter
Obviously my three year old dressed herself... not only does she not match, her shirt is even on backwards. Four months ago (baby is four months) I would of had her shirt turned around in a jiffy, but hey that is just one more thing to do right?
She posed like this on her own. Cracked me up. This is her Rapunzel tower. She proceeded to tell me, "mommy, don't worry! Don't worry! My tower will not fall down... I glued the boxes together." To which I replied, "glued?"
Her: "yes glued."
Me: "glued?"
Her: "yes mommy, glued. I used our new school glue you bought us."
Sure enough she glued the boxes together with white school glue. Not just a little glue, you know a lot of glue is needed when you are building a princess tower.
Need I say more? This is a good explanation as to why my brain is on fry, my laundry is unfolded and dishes most days can be found in my sink. All of which though exhausting and challenging at times is the BEST blessing!
Hope you enjoyed a peak into some of the fun we have been having around our home.
Homeschooling my children is a wonderful blessing that bares with it a great responsibility. With so many different roles (wife, mom, teacher, homemaker etc.) that I play around our home organization is key to keep things running smooth.
Often times the way school lessons break down in a day, one side of a worksheet is completed that day, leaving the other side for the next school day. What to do with all those papers for different children? What to do with them so they are not forgotten or overlooked? Where to put them so each child knows what they have for that day? What to do with them so they are not in the clutches of the youngest sister who wants to try her hand at her big sister's worksheet? These were the questions that inspired this.
Individual pockets adorned with ribbon. Perfect for holding school papers to be done or to be completed, corrections to be made or homework.
Eyelets make this possible to hang over the door from metal hooks. You can purchase eyelets at any fabric store, I got mine at Hobby Lobby. I then used ribbon to hang the organizer to the height I wanted.
Now for a peak of what is hiding under the fabric. How I made it.
I used a large Diaper box from Costco. I trimmed off the flaps or edges and this created the base for my organizer. I cut out pockets to the size I wanted, (keeping in mind they will be hemmed and turned under so that in the end it is at least big enough to fit a piece of paper) and then turned the edges in and sewed a thin hem. I then placed the pockets on my main piece of fabric. I turned under each edge excluding the top opening. I pinned the pocket to the main fabric and then pined on my ribbon wrapping it around the pocket. I sewed on each pocket and only sewed the ribbon edges to the main fabric. Once the pockets were all complete, I then used my hot glue gun to glue the main fabric to the cardboard box (only warping and gluing the edges to the back side of the cardboard). I also used the hot glue gun to glue down the middle or center part of the ribbon onto the pocket.There you have it... very simple. You could hot glue the whole thing if you did not want to sew.
This organizer will most likely hang on the inside door to my classroom closet. The closet door remains open during school time. The top pocket for now will hold my oldest daughters books. The one she is reading for her book report and the one I am reading out loud to her. The other pockets hold school papers! Yay! A wonderful solution! You could also use this for printer paper, notebook paper, construction paper, story books, coloring books, magazines, mail, bills, school or craft supplies and anything else you can come up with! Labels or numbers on the pockets are possibly in this organizers future. If I do then I will show you the update in a later post.
Now for a bit of an update. Here is what now fills my Mason Jar by my chalk board... because I know you have just been dying for this update. :)
